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Japanese solar-powered digital camera seeks photographers who care

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Japanese toy camera manufacturer Superheadz has released the world’s first solar-panel enabled digital camera called SUN&CLOUD. In fact, the camera can be charged in three ways. You can place the device in direct sunlight for 12 hrs to get a full-charge, or turning the built-in hand crank (one minute gets you four to eight photos). Or if you’d like to do it the easy way, simply connecting to a computer via USB. What’s great about this is that on a sunny day the camera will automatically stay powered no matter how many photos you take. Even if the weather isn’t great, turning the hand crank won’t be too much trouble either. This environmentally friendly camera weighs 190 greams and has a 3 megapixel sensor. You can also enjoy taking short videos, and play with 15 color modes. The specs for SUN&CLOUD aren’t exactly cutting edge, so why should you be interested? The idea of self-sufficient camera came up over four years ago, and the 2011 Tohoku earthquake pushed the idea into a reality. Omori and Nakamura from Superheadz elaborated in a recent interview with Greenz.jp: SUN&CLOUD needs to be taken care of. Everyday when you arrive at the office, you…

SUN&CLOUD-website

Japanese toy camera manufacturer Superheadz has released the world’s first solar-panel enabled digital camera called SUN&CLOUD. In fact, the camera can be charged in three ways. You can place the device in direct sunlight for 12 hrs to get a full-charge, or turning the built-in hand crank (one minute gets you four to eight photos). Or if you’d like to do it the easy way, simply connecting to a computer via USB.

What’s great about this is that on a sunny day the camera will automatically stay powered no matter how many photos you take. Even if the weather isn’t great, turning the hand crank won’t be too much trouble either.

This environmentally friendly camera weighs 190 greams and has a 3 megapixel sensor. You can also enjoy taking short videos, and play with 15 color modes. The specs for SUN&CLOUD aren’t exactly cutting edge, so why should you be interested?

superheadz
Photo: Greenz

The idea of self-sufficient camera came up over four years ago, and the 2011 Tohoku earthquake pushed the idea into a reality. Omori and Nakamura from Superheadz elaborated in a recent interview with Greenz.jp:

SUN&CLOUD needs to be taken care of. Everyday when you arrive at the office, you want to place it in the sunlight. These little efforts are what makes people feel affection towards things.

The world of photography is now polarized into high-end professional cameras and built-in cameras on mobile phones. But it’s not fun really to have nothing else outside of this hierarchy. That is exactly why we developed SUN&CLOUD. It has a message to tell. We want our users to enjoy and wonder why we made such a camera.

SUN&CLOUD comes in both black and white and is available for 18,900 yen (or about $190). You can learn more over on the HeadsShop website. Check out the video below.